Content screening has become popular for Internet users, in order to categorize broad types of data, e.g., so as to screen out data which does not interest them. For example, a user—or a parent of a user—may want to block pornographic content from a household personal computer. Rules for screening incoming data may be based on factors such as the type of a file or on the text therein.
As content screening becomes more sophisticated, additional processing power becomes necessary to minimize the delays resulting from the screening process. In many cases, the delay incurred by screening data significantly increases the download time of files from the Internet and from other external sources, such as a compact disk (CD). The increased delay can cause problems when the time available for the download is limited. For example, a business traveler may have to forgo downloading as many files onto a laptop computer or to forgo screening the downloaded files, if only a limited time is available for Internet access between flights. Also, an office worker may want to quickly download data from the Internet onto a portable USB flash drive before rushing to a meeting in another location. The added time required for the content screening may noticeably impact the user's time available for other tasks.
It would be desirable to be able to download data quickly without compromising the standard for screening the data. However, due to the significant addition of time necessary for sophisticated screening routines to execute, it previously did not seen possible to screen incoming data without increasing the download time.